Back to results
US 5,472,008 AGranted
Automatic valve for gaseous fluids, suitable for protecting the pressure regulator from thermal stress and from excess flow to which it may be subjected
AssigneeO.A.R.A. s.r.L.
InventorWalter Boarin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The subject of the present invention is an automatic safety valve for gaseous fluids compressed in cylinders whose supply is controlled by pressure regulators, which is provided with a device protecting against dangerous variations in temperature and against excess flow and which in addition may be adapted to various connection systems between existing cylinders and burners.
Claims12
An automatic valve for gaseous fluids, suitable for protecting a pressure regulator from thermal stress, comprising:
- a) a bushing member defining a hollow interior and a gas passage through-hole for passing a gas from the hollow interior and through the gas passage through-hole;
- b) a plug having a body portion, a collar disposed towards one end of the body portion and a tapered sealing projection disposed at an opposite end of the body portion, the tapered sealing projection being operable for extending into and sealing the gas-passage through-hole;
- c) a spring member for applying an urging force on the plug in an urging direction for extending the tapered sealing projection into the gas-passage through-hole;
- and
- d) an intermediate heat deformable plastic element disposed annularly around the body portion, in a normal state the intermediate heat deformable plastic element being disposed adjacent with the collar and having a stiffness so as to be effective in co-action with the collar for retaining the plug against the urging force, in a heated state, the intermediate heat deformable plastic element being deformable so as to enable the collar to pass through and allow the tapered sealing projection to extend into and seal the gas-passable through-hole;
- wherein the intermediate heat deformable plastic element defines a cross-shaped pass-through hole with retaining projections for contacting and retaining the collar, the retaining projections being deformable at a predetermined temperature so as to bend due to the urging force exerted through the collar to enable the collar to pass through the intermediate heat deformable plastic element and allow the tapered projection to extend into and seal the gas passage through-hole.
3 more elements
An automatic valve for gaseous fluids, comprising:
- a) a bushing member defining a hollow interior and a gas passage through-hole for passing a gas from the hollow interior and through the gas passage through-hole;
- b) a plug disposed in the hollow interior and having a longitudinal axis, a middle body portion having a diameter, a collar portion disposed towards one end of the plug and having a diameter that is larger than the diameter of the body portion, and a sealing end disposed at another end of the plug and operable in a safety operation for extending into and plugging the gas passage through-hole;
- c) an urging member for urging the plug in a direction along the longitudinal axis and toward the gas passage through-hole;
- and
- d) a retaining member having a stiff hardened state and a deformable softened state depending on temperature, the retaining member defining an opening and being annularly disposed around the middle body portion of the plug between the collar and the sealing end, the retaining member in the normal stiff hardened state being effective to retain the collar from passing through the opening so as to prevent the sealing portion from extending into the gas passage through-hole thereby allowing the gas to pass from the hollow interior and through the gas passage through-hole, the retaining member in the safety softened state being effective to allow the collar to pass through the opening so as to allow the urging force to automatically extend the sealing end in the safety operation into and seal the gas passage through-hole so as to prevent the gas from passing from the hollow interior and through the gas passage hole;
- wherein the retaining member defines a cross-shaped pass-through hole with retaining projections for contacting and retaining the collar, the retaining projections being deformable at a predetermined temperature so as to bend due to the urging force exerted through the collar to enable the collar to pass through the retaining member and allow the sealing end to extend into and seal the gas passage through-hole.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.